Andy Sack on Give First and Creating a Startup Ecosystem from Scratch

<p>Andy Sack has been a technology entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist for 25 years — and is one of the godfathers of the Seattle startup community. He was managing director for Techstars Seattle, founder and executive chairman for Lighter Capital, and cofounder of seed stage fund Founder's Co-op. He participated in the first Techstars Boston Startup Weekend and was so moved by the experience that he decided to run a Techstars Startup Weekend in Seattle.&nbsp;</p><br><p>As Andy says, “(I gave) a talk to the Techstars Boston class and it was supposed to be one hour. Three hours later after talking and answering questions, I left the building, and I was moved to tears.”</p><br><p>He rallied the venture capital community in Seattle to support entrepreneurs through Techstars, creating a vibrant startup ecosystem that didn't previously exist. Three different unicorn startups (valued over a billion dollars) came out of Andy's 2011 Class of Techstars Seattle.&nbsp;</p><br><p><strong>Follow Andy on Twitter:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/AndySack" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@AndySack</a></p><br><p><strong>Learn more about his favorite charitable organizations:</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://www.twoscreensforteachers.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Two Screens for Teachers</a> - Gives teachers a second computer screen so they can see their students while teaching remotely.</p><br><p><a href="https://www.rainierscholars.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rainier Scholars</a> - Creates pathways to college graduation for hard-working, low-income students and provides access to transformative educational opportunities.</p><br><p><a href="https://iwantrest.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">REST</a> - Helps women on the street get out of troubled situations and abusive relationships and gives them a place to live.</p><br><p><br></p><br><p><em>Techstars personnel and/or guests who speak in this podcast express their own opinions, and not the op